Anima Ex Machina
by Rizzo-P
Summary: Androids, and, by definition, Vocaloids, also have hearts, don't they? They are capable of laughing, crying, screaming, singing... even loving. One-shot collection. Contains an OC and some pairings.
1. Chapter 1: A New Voice

**Welcome to my new story, people. Without further introduction, go read!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vocaloid, any Vocaloid mentioned (except Aeon), Studio Ghibli, nor a PSP. Though I would love to own a PSP.**

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**-|-Anima Ex Machina-|-**

**Chapter One**

**A New Voice**

I felt a hard surface underneath me.

Where am I? Who am I? Better said, _What_ am I?

"**Purojekuto CV 05 wa mezamemasu. Sa, watashitachi wa nani o subekideshou ka?**"

"**Shonen ga mewosamasu shimasou.**"

What did they say? CV05? Is that my name? What?

Ugh, my head hurts.

"**Purattofomu o agemasu****.**" A commanding voice, it had notorious authority.

"**Hai, sa****.**" And there are the servants. Or cronies. Or whatever.

I felt the side of the surface that my head was on rise. I thought that I would slip or something, but turns out that I had something to stand on the other side.

"**Dengen o kitte, kare wa sudeni mezamete mimashou.**"

"**Hai, sa.**" I internally rolled my eyes. Looks like that voice doesn't know any other phrase.

Then, I felt a weird sensation. Like that something that was helping me stand suddenly dropped me. I almost fell to my knees, but then I managed to stabilize myself on my feet.

I opened my eyes.

A strong light blinded me. I narrowed my eyes, trying to recognize something around me. I saw a smiling face in front of me. Its lips were moving. What was it saying?

"**Aeon, sekai e yokoso.**"Japanese? Is that Japanese?

By some reason, I understood it.

"_Welcome to the world, Aeon._"

Then I blacked out.

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

I opened my eyes again.

A lot of faces greeted me this time. At least, that's what I think they're… I saw a very big blur, with spots of teal, blue, yellow, red, green and pink. I think that I'm probably high…

I focused on one of the closest blurs of colors. Two big blue spots, with a lot of yellow on top.

As I tried to focus my gaze, it started looking like a face more and more. Blonde hair, big blue eyes, delicate face. I shook slightly my head. I think that it's a female.

"Who are you, girl?"

A strong laugh was heard, coming from the blue and white blur's general direction.

"Way to go, Len! Even the newbie called you a gir- OW!" The voice was cut short with a loud SMACK! Whoops…. I was proven wrong.

I heaved myself up, sitting in the couch that I was previously draped on.

Now I was seeing double. Wasn't that the girl with blue eyes? And there is another? What?

One of the blondes beamed.

"**Kon'nichiwa! Anata no namae wa nanidetsu ka?**"

The words came fluently to my lips.

"**Watashinonamaeha Aeon. Aeon Muonssei.**" I don't even know what I said. Wait… I do understand a bit. I think I said 'My name's Aeon Muonssei'. Is that supposed to be my name?

Ugh. I'm really confused right now…

My sight finally focused. I saw a big group of people, surrounding me… or the couch in which I was resting. There was a blue haired man with a scarf, a brunette woman with red clothes, a tall pink haired lady, a green haired girl, a boy that had silvery, almost white hair, and the two identical blonde girls.

I watched them talk between themselves a bit. And, by doing so, I slowly, but surely identified them. How? I don't know, maybe the information was implanted into my brain, or something.

I glanced at the two blonde girls, or, better said, the _boy_ and the girl. The ideas, names and more information came to my mind.

"The Kagamine twins. …Len …and Rin," I muttered to myself. Huh? Looks like the girl heard me. I watched her as she now said another thing that I didn't understood.

Now, I glanced at the teal-haired pig-tailed girl. More names and information came to my mind.

"Miku Hatsune. One of the most widely known Vocaloids, also known as a Diva." I whispered. Vocaloid? What's that?

The answer came to my lips. "Vocaloid is a voice synthesizer software, with pre-charged voices, used to create songs. The term also refers to the singers, or, in this case, the androids that are the voices of the software." I blinked in astonishment. The tealette blinked too, having noticed that I was talking to myself. I got to admit, that sounded like I ate a dictionary. I started identifying the other people, or, better said, androids, around us.

"Kaito Shion. Meiko Sakine. Luka Megurine. Megpoid, also known as Gumi. And... Piko Utatane?" I muttered, pointing to each of them. The blue haired man with a scarf, the brunette young woman with red eyes (and clothes), the pink haired lady, the green haired girl, and a boy that had silvery, almost white hair. By now, everyone noticed what I was doing.

"So, you know who we are?" asked the brunette. Or, for convenience sake, Meiko.

"Yes, I do- wait. Why are you talking on English?" I asked, somewhat surprised that I instantly grasped the language.

"You were talking in English to yourself. Also, Luka noticed that you use the occidental order of names, so she said that maybe your brain is fixed to think like an occidental boy or something." said Gumi. I nodded.

"Thank you. Now that we know each other... where are we?" I asked, finally glancing at my surroundings. We were in a very spacious living room, though it could also be called a lounge, with black colored walls, a white ceiling, some panoramic windows (and by looking through them you could notice that we were in a high floor), a big, and I mean BIG, TV, on top of a black painted metal and glass rack, three cream colored sofas (and I was sitting on one of them), a comfy white rug, a coffee table, a huge home theater underneath the TV, some bookshelves and shelves with CDs and DVDs, and in the far corner I saw a corridor. Not bad.

"We are in the Voca Building. Though, it's more of a very big loft. Meh." Kaito informed, and then shrugged. I nodded again. Then, I glanced at the three silent ones, Len, Miku and Luka. Oh, and Piko.

"Um... Why am I here, exactly?" I asked, feeling stupid. God, I know almost the whole biography of each one of the people in this room, except myself. By some reason, I only know my own name and some basic things. Like that in this right moment, I had a HUGE craving for peanuts.

Miku sighed with an exasperated tone.

"Look at your arm." I raised my right arm in front of my eyes, lifted a bit my black and orange sleeve, and looked at the skin in my upper arm, near to my shoulder. There, like a tattoo, were the letters 'CV04'. Well, letters and numbers. Underneath it, it said: 'E/J Project V.2'.

"E/J Project 2? What does that mean?" Everyone else glanced at Luka. She sighed, at showed me her left arm. Yep, near the shoulder, there also was a similar tattoo. It read: 'CV03'. Underneath it, it said: 'J/E Project V.1'.

"Why are the letters in a different order?" I asked.

"Looks like someone is full of questions." I lowered sheepishly my gaze, a bit taken aback. Luka smiled. "Don't worry, everyone is like that their first day." I raised again my gaze. "The 'E' stands for 'English' and the 'J' for 'Japanese'. The order is like that in my arm because I was firstly created for singing in Japanese, then, an English voicebox was added. Your case is probably reversed: You were first made to talk and sing in English and a Japanese voicebox was added. So, because of that you can understand basic Japanese and advanced English. Got that?" I nodded after Luka finished her rant. Then, she blushed in embarrassment when she noticed that she was ranting. "Sorry."

I nodded once again. "So, why am I here?" Len, Miku, and Kaito groaned.

"Isn't it obvious? You are a new Vocaloid, blockhead." Len shook his head in exasperation. I narrowed my eyes.

"Shut it, girly boy." Cue the staring contest. I could feel the negativity coming from the blonde since I woke up. It _probably_ was based on the fact that I called him a girl...

Nah. He probably just is like that.

Kaito glanced nervously at both of us, Miku shook her head, Rin was covering her mouth with her hands, but the glimmer in her eyes showed that it was from refrained laughter. Luka tried to intervene, but Meiko stopped her, and Piko continued glancing out the window, ignoring us, and looking like that he would have liked to be anywhere but here.

After a very, _very_ tense few seconds, Len smirked. "Not bad, newbie. You got guts. I like that." He offered me his hand. Returning the smirk, I shook it.

Miku rolled her eyes. "Now that the shota conflict was resolved, I have things to do. Excuse me." She turned and started walking down the corridor, swaying her hips, probably to her room. Both Len and I stared at her as she walked away, both with mouths open to retort. Or, rephrase that, I stared at the back of her head, closing my mouth when I noticed that she probably wouldn't listen to me anyway, and Len stared at her... well... _lower_ back, mouth slightly open. Rin smacked his head and snorted.

"Pervert." Len made a protesting noise after biting his tongue and rubbed his head.

Ignoring that, I rubbed my head, subconsciously mirroring Len. "What's her problem?"

Luka sighed again. "She's jealous." She said, glancing out the window.

My eyes widened. "Jealous? Of me? Why?" I stared at her as she shuffled uncomfortably in the spot.

Kaito came to her help. "She gets like that every time someone steals her spotlight. She was the same when Gumi arrived, didn't she?" Gumi nodded.

"Don't worry; she'll be okay in a few days." The green-haired girl assured me. I sighed, and shook my head.

"Okay. I suppose. So, I'm supposed to sing?"

"Yeah, you know..."

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

Meanwhile, Len noticed that Rin was abnormally silent and shy. He glanced around, and didn't find her. Oh, so that was why she was so silent. She wasn't even here! He caught a white bow out of the corner of his eye, turning the corner in direction of their room's corridor. He smirked to himself, and followed her.

As he thought, Rin was there, back resting on the wall, eyes closed. Len cleared his throat, making Rin open her eyes, and her hand to shoot up, covering her chest. She let out a breath, when she realized it was her brother. "Len… You scared me." Len raised his eyebrows. Why was she so nervous? …Oh… Len's mouth curled into a mischievous smirk.

"Looks like little Rinny has a crush on someone." Rin's eyes widened, and she fingered her bow, an habit that she did when she was nervous.

"No! It isn't that! It's just that his eyes... scare me." Now it was the turn for Len's eyes to widen.

"What? Why?"

Rin shook her head. "It's weird. His eyes... scare me, but... I cannot help but feel attracted to him."

Len's smirk returned. "So, you _do_ have a crush on him." Rin looked like she wanted to bang her head on the wall. "C'mon, Rin. Go and talk, before someone else notices that you aren't there. Gumi probably noticed already." Rin's eyes widened again.

"Oh, crap." And she turned back to where Meiko was explaining how to record a song.

Len chuckled to himself, and followed her.

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

Kaito yawned.

"I'm hungry, people! Whose turn was to cook?" He shouted, probably so Miku and Piko heard him. Both Piko and I started at the sudden increase in volume.

"It was yours, BaKaito!" Miku's voice came from the corridor, probably her room. What do you want me to say? I don't know this place.

Kaito's hand found its way to his forehead. "Oh, right."

Meiko rolled her eyes, Luka shook her head, and Gumi giggled. Then, I noticed that Rin just got again into sight, like that she was away for a while. Her eyes widened at being caught. I practically could _hear_ her, thinking 'Oh, crap.' I smirked at her, just to see her reaction and she blushed a bit. I chuckled. Gumi noticed this too and giggled a bit more.

Kaito went to the kitchen (open, easy to see from here), probably to start making dinner. Meiko said something about 'avoiding to burn down the house' and went to help him, Gumi grabbed Rin's arm and went through the corridor, probably to either her or Rin's room, Len followed them, and Luka glanced at Piko, then at me.

"So, we need to set where you are going to sleep. Piko, come here." Piko rolled his eyes and walked to where we were.

"What now, Luka." She glared at him. He ignored her, unfazed.

"A little bit of respect, Piko. Anyway, Master said that he's almost your brother-" Both Piko and I choked on saliva at this. "-so, he would be your roommate."

"Objection!" Both Piko and I shouted at the same time. We glared at each other, while Luka giggled. "Stop imitating me!" Again in synch. "HEY! STO-"

"This will continue happening. Both of you have similar personality patterns," Luka interrupted while Piko and I glared at each other. "Please, you two even are physically similar."

"I'm a shota, too?!" I jumped, mortified, and Piko, once again, glared at me.

"C'mon. Stop fighting," Luka interrupted again. "Master said that you two are half-brothers. Period."

I sighed, passing my fingers through my hair. "Then, which parent do we share?" Both stared at me, like I was crazy. "What?"

"We're androids, smartass. We don't have parents. Unless you call Master our parent," Piko snorted at me. I glared once again at him.

Luka sighed. "You two do act like brothers... And you two probably make Kaito look like a responsible adult." By some reason, I felt deeply offended by that. "Enough. Piko, let's go. We have to show Aeon his room." Piko sighed and nodded. We followed him through the corridor that I previously saw from the sofa. I glanced around, looking at the different colored door. As we passed in front of a lime green colored one, we heard someone singing. Luka nodded to the door.

"That's Gumi and Miku's room." I nodded back, and we continued walking down the corridor. Then, in front of a yellow one (probably the Kagamine's room), we heard an extremely loud noise of a FPS videogame. Luka stopped and pounded on the door.

"LEN! LESS VOLUME, NOW!" The volume instantly dropped. I glanced at Luka, a bit scared of her.

"She has a temper." Piko muttered to me and I nodded. Luka motioned us to continue walking and we followed her.

Then, in front of a brown door, we heard a high pitched squeal. Luka frowned, and knocked on the door. The door opened a bit and Gumi's head appeared.

"Gumi," Luka started in a sickly sweet voice, "may I ask _what the hell are you doing in my room?_" Okay, that's scary. Gumi visibly paled, and made a gesture to talk in private with Luka. Luka nodded reluctantly, and followed her inside her room. Piko and I stared at the door for a while, and then we glanced at each other, shrugged, and continued walking down the hall. We stopped in front of a white door, near to the yellow door of the twins' room.

"Well... This is my room." Trailed off Piko, opening the door.

There were two beds, one in each corner farthest from the door. There were two desks, one on each side of the room. There was a walk-in closet- or so I though, judging by the door on the left wall. There also was a door on the other side, probably a bathroom. There was a mirror next to the door. Also, the floor had a white carpet on the left side, and a black carpet on the right. The left bed had white covers, pillows and everything. The right one was completely black. And the walls-

'Yeah, yeah. Black and white. The guy who decorated this sure had a closed mind.' I thought.

The room was quite big, but it still had somewhat of a 'home' touch. Namely, there was a huge mess on the left side of the room. As I ended glancing around, Luka entered the room, and glanced at Piko's bed.

"Piko," scolded Luka, "what have I told you about cleaning your room?" Piko glanced sheepishly to the floor.

"I didn't know that I would have guests," he said, rubbing the back of his head. Luka sighed and glanced at me.

"Look, the right side of the room is yours." She glared again at Piko as the white haired boy plopped himself on his bed. "Try to keep it _clean_ or I will get angry." I nodded in fear. She smiled. "Good."

I squiggled uncomfortably under her gaze, and I heard a faint squeaking sound. Curious, I glanced around, searching for its source. Piko shot me a glance.

"What are you doing?" I shrugged, and I heard again the squeak, a bit louder this time. Luka heard it too.

"What was that?" I silently shook my head, almost expecting the squeak, but no, no squeak. Piko covered his right eye with his hand with an exasperated sigh, and pointed at me.

"Your vest. It's made from some leather-imitation plastic and it squeaks when your arm warmer rubs on it." Now that I think about it, I don't even know what I am wearing. I walked to the mirror to take a good look at myself. Wow, that kinda makes me sound like a narcissist.

I am wearing a black school shirt, with two… belts? crossed over my chest in an X pattern, somewhat baggy dark orange shorts that reached a bit over my knee, with a black stripe on the border, and a silver chain dangling in my right side, hanging from my belt loops. I also had a vest, black in color. The neck of the vest was orange, and the ends of the vest sleeves were also orange.

My hair is raven black, with fair skin. I, as every other Vocaloid, am wearing headphones. Mine are tilted towards the back of my head, dangling from my ears. My bangs fall on my face. My face is somewhat delicate, but it has still sharper edges than Piko's. I have a small nose, a somewhat small mouth, and big glacier blue, almost white, eyes.

I whistled in admiration at myself. Piko snorted, and muttered, "Narcissist, much?" to himself, but I still heard him, and apparently Luka too, because she glared at him. Great… If Piko made her angry, I'm going to kill him. …If she doesn't kill us first.

We all heard Kaito's voice coming from the kitchen, or somewhere close to it. "Dinner's ready, people!" Phew. Saved by the bell… Or Kaito, better said.

On cue, "What's for dinner?" yelled back Miku and Rin.

"It's… What was it again, Meiko?" A short silence. "Boulla- Beulla- Boulder- Uh… Soup!" Luka sent Piko one last crossed glance, and walked out the door, in the kitchen's direction, Piko walking some steps behind her. I awkwardly rubbed my head at being left alone, and followed them.

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

Dinner was a huge mess. Kaito and Meiko had cooked a French seafood soup, called_ bouillabaisse_. How the hell did they manage to make something like that in a so short time, I don't know. Well, the point is that it was edible, but some people (Miku), complained that they didn't like seafood and everyone started fighting while Luka and I were trying to eat. So, it lasted until Meiko slammed her hand in the table, a plate fell from the table, and Kaito was scalded with the soup. Meiko, Luka and Miku had to carry him to the bathroom and then call a doctor. When he arrived, he simply said hello and asked who was the one this time. They simply pointed him to Kaito's bedroom and he gave him something for his burn. Talk about the family medic…

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I yawned as I followed Piko to our room. He shot a glance at me, and then locked himself in the bathroom. I stared at the door for a few seconds, until a soft knock in the door startled me. I raised myself from my bed, and opened the door.

A nervous blonde, followed by a green haired giggly girl entered my room.

Rin walked to my desk and sat in my computer chair. Gumi awkwardly glanced around for a seat until I pointed my bed to her, where she sat, and I sat next to her. After a few awkward seconds, Gumi said:

"It was nice to meet you, Aeon." That sounded like a good-bye, or something, and Gumi probably noticed it, because she blushed a bit and rubbed her right arm, glancing at the floor. Piko came out of the bathroom, already in his pajamas, and glanced at the two girls in our room. He scratched his ear when he noticed the awkward atmosphere. Then, in a good attempt to light up the ambient, he said:

"Um… What? Too awkward to start smooching yet? I wanna join." Scratch that, that wasn't a good attempt. I deftly punched him in the gut, and he walked to his bed, breathing heavily. "Shouldn't –pant– have said –pant– anything."

"Um, yeah." Gumi nodded. I stared a bit at them both. Why were they here?

I voiced my thoughts, and Gumi answered, "I am not really sure… We kinda wanted to welcome you, but Rinny over here shied off…" Rin glanced hurriedly at Gumi before talking herself.

"I-it's not t-that! I-it's just that…" But she was interrupted by a knock on the door. It opened, revealing Len.

"Hey, Piko, can you return me already my _Mockingjay_ book? I want to end read- Oh." Again, awkwardness started dripping off the walls. After a full minute, Piko jumped up from his bed.

"That's enough! I don't want more awkwardness on my room! Out, all of you!" I stared at my 'half-brother'. In cue, Len, Gumi and I grabbed him and pushed him out the door. "H-hey! The hell-" The door was closed behind him. I rubbed my hands.

"Wanna watch a movie?"

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

The movie we chose was, surprisingly enough, _Howl's Moving Castle_. I quite liked it, and made a mental note to search for more movies from that studio, _Studio Ghibli_. Piko was allowed to enter around halfway in the movie.

So, after the movie ended, it was already ten past twelve, and I supposed that we had to wake up early the next day, so, I shooed everyone else out of our room, having changed out of my concert outfit before the movie, I said good night to Piko, and went to sleep.

Before I fell asleep, I had a thought in my head.

_'Being a Vocaloid isn't half bad._'

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

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**Oh, we all know that we would **_**love**_** to be Vocaloids. Really. **

**So. First story with my new name! I also threw Downfall down the drain. lol, rhymes.**

**I got the first chapter with over 3k words. Good for you.**

**When I finish it, I will upload a drawing (hopefully painted) of Aeon to my deviantArt. Link on my profile, people!**

**This is basically a oneshot collection, of the everyday life of our beloved characters. I have two ideas for songs for Aeon, but, if anyone wants, you can send me your ideas too! (I basically am asking for someone to help me write lyrics. That's it. Though you can send your own songs by PM to me.)**

**Well, people, see ya later!**


	2. Chapter 2: A Trip to the Mall

**Hiya, people! Welcome to the second chapter of Soundless Voice- Wait, wrong title. Anyway. Without further ado, go read!**

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**-|-Anima Ex Machina-|-**

**Chapter Two**

**Everyday Mornings**

I woke up with a start as the door was slammed open. I heaved myself upwards hurriedly, only to headbutt the intruder who had proceeded, after slamming the door, to try and wake me up.

"Ow!" Gumi cried out in pain.

"Gumi! What the hell are you doing here!?" I cried back.

"I came to wake you up, because-!"

"Stop screaming already!" interrupted Piko. Gumi shot a glance at him, and then she continued, in a more normal tone:

"C'mon! We're going to the mall to buy manga and games! And you're coming with us!"

I raised a hand to try and make her shut up. "Wait, wait, wait. First than anything, what time is it?"

"Half past nine," Piko answered helpfully.

"Thank you, Piko. Now, who is 'us'?" I asked Gumi.

"Me, you, Rin, Len, Iroha, Piko and possibly Miku."

"Hey, I wasn't even told-" Piko cried out in indignation, but Gumi threw him one of his own sneakers, hitting him square in the face. He fell to the floor, and then weakly raised himself, muttering something about 'how every girl in this place is crazy and likes to hurt people'. I spared him a glance, and he pointed at Gumi, who was waiting expectantly for me to say something.

"Um… Hey, aren't you supposed to be famous and all those things? Have you thought about what would happen if you go out in public?" I inquired, starting to worry. Probably they didn't even think about what would-

"Yep! We're all going undercover!" I didn't like at all the excited gleam in Gumi's eyes.

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

"I see something horribly wrong with your definition of undercover," commented Piko.

And damn right he is. The new girl, Iroha, was wearing a flamboyant neon pink coat, with cowgirl boots, and- are those _cat ears_?

"Hey! My definition of undercover is perfectly good, for your info-"

"Gumi! Control your pet, please!" called out Piko as he pointed at Iroha, in which point she lunged at him. Gumi snickered.

"Ahhh~, young love." She smirked, and winked at me. I shook my head in amusement.

"You sound old." She glared at me, offended, until I asked, trying to escape from a probable beating. Man, that glare sure can creep people out. "Now, where are Len and Rin?" I asked, looking around for them. Gumi grinned slyly.

"We have to wake them up." I shuddered. Piko glanced nervously at Gumi from under Iroha. Um… let me reformulate that. Piko glanced nervously at Gumi from where Iroha was straddling and pinching him.

"I have a really bad feeling about this…"

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

Gumi pushed me inside the bedroom, and entered behind me. Iroha was latched on to Piko's arm, and peeked shyly from behind him. Curious how they fight a lot and then they're all lovey-dovey. Piko punched my arm, and gave me a look that said: 'Mention it and you die'. I shrugged, not really caring.

"Okay, Rin sleeps on top and Len on bottom." Gumi whispered. We all stared awkwardly at her until she realized what she said. "For Pete's sake, it's a bunk bed. What? Did you expect them to sleep together? And anyways, Len is hopelessly in love with our dear Miku and Rin has a small crush on-" I slapped my hand on her mouth, muffling her. She was becoming dangerously loud, and dramatic, though I'd really like to know who Rin has a crush on… I blinked, snapping out of my thoughts, and I noticed that she had already moved, letting me space out with a hand raised. I lowered my hand, letting it hang awkwardly on my side.

"Come again?"

"I said, give me the whipped cream." Gumi gestured to me as she stood in front of the twins' bed. I nodded reluctantly, and gave her the white can. This is going to get us in a lot of trouble…

Piko voiced my thoughts, and Iroha snorted. "What, are you scared?" I swear, that girl is extremely bipolar.

Gumi shook the whipped cream can, and slowly bent a bit to fill Len's cupped hand with it. I saw an instant flaw in that plan, and it was that Len slept curled. How the hell is she gonna- oh.

"Okay, now's Rin's turn. How're you doing, Iroha?" Gumi whispered as she raised herself as quietly as possible, trying not to wake anyone up.

"A OK!" Iroha whispered back. She was balancing herself on one foot on top of the twins' bedside table, using a blackboard marker to draw doodles on Rin's face. A shudder passed through my spine. I have got a really, _really_, bad feeling… Like one of impending doom.

"Okay. I'm ready!" whispered Iroha, and skillfully and silently jumped down from her position in top of the twins' nighttable. Gumi smirked and rubbed her hands together.

"Now, we need the alarm clock. Everyone, position yourselves on the curtains," she commanded, and Piko and I reluctantly obeyed, while Iroha happily skipped to the other curtain, her steps muffled by the floor carpet.

"How are we going to do this, exactly?" asked Piko, a bit worried about the outcome.

"Okay, this is the plan. When the alarm rings, everyone opens the curtains, so light enters and Len smacks his face. And Rin will shoot up, and probably fall from her bed." Gumi explained, and snickered. I glanced worriedly at Rin's still sleeping figure. Isn't that like two meters…? And how the hell is everything going to happen like Gumi says?

I was startled out of my skin when the alarm clock burst in sound, surprising everyone, but, nonetheless, we all opened the curtains immediately. As predicted, and also surprising me, Len jerked and smacked his face, trying to cover it from the light, smearing himself with the whipped cream, and fell from his bed.

Rin's reaction was a bit more startling. She jolted up, screaming "SPIDER!", and then she fell from her bed on top of Len, tangled in her covers. Len let out a whimper as Rin's weight fell on him like a sack of potatoes. …Not that I'm comparing Rin to a potato. She's prettier. N-not that I like her or anything. …Maybe a bit.

Gumi and Iroha laughed their asses off, as Piko raised a camera, having captured the whole situation on video. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. I have to admit it, that was funny.

"Um… Rin…. Your face…." Len awkwardly commented, just noticing his sister's face. Rin tried to heave herself up, as Gumi carefully deposited a small mirror in front of her. She screamed when she saw her face. Gumi laughed some more and exclaimed:

"Okay, cut! And now…. RUN FOR YOUR ASSES!" She screamed the last part and shot out of the door. Len grabbed Piko's leg as he tried to pass next to him, and he threw Iroha the camera, whom expertly caught it and sprinted out of the room, following Gumi. I jumped over Rin's wailing figure and ran out of the room. Just I was going to pass through the door, Piko heavily fell to the floor, having tripped on Rin's outstretched leg, and he gave me a begging glance. I took hold of both his arms, as Len and Rin each clamped one of his legs. I glanced worriedly at him. He shouted in pain when he was stretched. I mouthed, 'I'm sorry', when I noticed that I couldn't help him, dropped him, and ran out of the door. Sorry, Piko, but I don't want to be killed. I ran to Gumi's room, where she and Iroha let me in.

Iroha shot me a worried glance. "And Piko?"

I lowered my gaze. "They got him."

Gumi theatrically sighed, "His sacrifice will not be in va-" She was cut short by a pounce on the door.

"OPEN THE DOOR! WE KNOW THAT YOU'RE IN THERE! WE HAVE A HOSTAGE!" Came Rin's voice from the other side of the door.

"HELP ME!" Piko wailed, and I winced at the sound. Iroha shot Gumi another worried glance. Gumi smirked, and she crossed her legs, making herself comfortable on her bed.

"Nope! Now, hand Piko over or the video will go on YouTube!" My eyes widened. If she does this to her friends, what will she do to her enemies? I shuddered at the thought. Remind me to never get on Gumi's bad side…

Rin's voice turned into a deadly whisper. "You wouldn't dare… Oh, wait. Yes, you would." A heavy sigh was heard. "Just wait until I get my hands on some blackmail material…"

"What did you say?" cheerily asked Gumi, and Rin sighed again in defeat.

"Okay, we'll hand him over. But only if you don't upload the video."

"We will see," replied Gumi and opened the door. Piko was pushed in. Iroha gasped at his aspect. His lip was bleeding, the lower part of his shirt was torn, and he had a black eye.

I whistled. "Whew… Man, what happened?"

He winced as Iroha touched his eye. "Let me say, Rin punches _hard_. Anyway, do we have the video?"

Gumi happily nodded. "Yep, we've got great blackmail material here!"

Rin pounced again in the door, startling us. At least, startling me, Piko and Iroha. Gumi didn't look surprised at all. "HEY! You said that you wouldn't upload it!"

Gumi smirked, even though Rin couldn't see her. "I never said that. If you remember properly, I just said 'We will see'." The door shook, probably from Rin slamming her head on it. I suppose I guessed correctly, because a yelp of pain was heard shortly afterwards.

"Okay, Gumi, you win. We won't do anything… For now. Don't forget that." An ominous silence. Then Rin returned to a cheery tone. "Now, we're going to go to the mall, right? Let me get dressed! …and washed…." She muttered the last part under her breath. Gumi nodded and opened the door.

"Right. Operation: Prevention: Blackmail was a success. Well done, people!" She said, Iroha cheered, and Piko and I glanced at each other. Prevention? I can only imagine what her retaliations would be…

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

So, after Gumi and Piko convinced Iroha to change into more discreet clothes, otherwise we would be mauled by a pack of rabid fangirls (both Len and Piko shuddered when Gumi casually commented it), Miku joined us, and we got into a van, driven by Gumiya, Gumi's older brother (yes, he had a license), who dropped us at the local mall. Immediately after coming out of the aforementioned vehicle, Miku grabbed Rin from the arm, saying that they would be clothes' shopping, Iroha automatically said that she'll go with them, and carried Piko off, who was complaining as they walked out of our sight. Gumi and Len shared an awkward glance, and I passed a hand through my hair, when we were kinda left there. We stood there for a bit, until Gumiya told Gumi to call him when we wanted to get back to the house, and Len commented that he wanted to go to the game's store. We instantly agreed, and walked to GameStop. Fortunately, Len and Gumi had a better definition of undercover that Iroha, and nobody glanced twice at us.

Inside, I, for some reason, found my eyes glued to this game that I found on one of the shelves, called 'Super Smash Bros. Brawl'. Gumi noticed it, and told me that we already had a copy in the house. I look forward to playing it…

After Len bought some games that he wanted to try, he asked me which game system did I like more. I answered that I didn't know any, and most of the people in the store gasped and gaped at me. I stared at the floor for some seconds, until Len and Gumi carried me to try a PSP. I instantly liked it, and they said me that the people from Crypton usually gave us money for things like that, and Gumi forced Len to buy it for me. I sweatdropped when I noticed, and tried to tell her that it was okay, but she ignored me. I think that she did it to annoy Len more that for giving me a gift… Anyway, then she told me to choose two games, and that I would pay them both for what they bought for me later. Or, as Gumi said with a wink, 'you owe us favors'. A shudder made its way through my spine, and we left the store. I was surprised as how they had so much money that they bought things like a brand new portable console without caring for the price.

Then, Gumi carried us to a manga and anime shop.

"Um… what's this?" I asked, and raised one of the small books that I had found.

"Read it, genius." Len answered back, without raising his gaze from another of those 'manga' books in the store. I glanced at the manga's title, 'Pandora Hearts'. Gumi nodded in approval.

"That one is pretty good, Aeon. Looks like you have good taste…. Now, find a manga for me." I sighed, and returned to one of the manga racks. I picked one that looked interesting, and gave it to Gumi. She nodded again, and commented, "Yep, you do have good taste," after looking through it. I glanced at the title of this one. It read: 'The World God Only Knows'.

"I like it, but this isn't the first tome. Where did you find it?" Gumi asked, and I shrugged and pointed to the rack in which I found it. She hummed to herself, as she took a whooping twelve booklets from the rack, and signaled me to carry them for her. I reluctantly nodded, after she reminded me of the 'favors' I owed her, and was forced to carry them.

"Hey, guys, come see this!" Len called from the anime section, and we saw that he had a DVD case on his hands. The anime's title was 'Angel Beats!'.

"Look at what I found." He glanced at me, "Wha- Gumi? Are those yours?" Gumi nodded with pride, and he sighed. "Gumi, our money isn't unlimited, you know. And Miku and Rin probably already used a lot of money, and-"

"Relax, Lenny. We've got more money this month, because of Aeon's arrival, and, anyways, they give us money depending on our songs' profits. So, with you, Rin, and Miku, we've scored ourselves a nice amount," She said, interlacing her fingers behind of her head. She glanced at Len through one half-lidded eye. "Don't be such a worrywart. Also, we now need to buy Aeon clothes, and-" Len sighed, and motioned to me to go to the cashier before Gumi wanted to buy the whole store.

"She may like manga and games, and sometimes behave like a guy, but she's still a girl, and tends to go on shopping sprees," he commented to me as we stood in line. Gumi was still rambling, oblivious to our conversation. I nodded, and Len showed me a small golden card, with the Visa symbol, that said 'Crypton'. I whistled, glancing around as he paid for the manga and the anime, slightly surprised that I knew how to do so.

While I was staring at one of the screens that showed random anime, Gumi commented, "We have two… no, three of those cards. One that has Miku, that one, and one that has Luka."

I glanced at her. "Why did they give one to Miku? They should've known that she would use it all the time…" Len snorted and Gumi giggled.

"You know, she's like the face of all of us. They _had_ to give her one. They gave the other ones to Len and Luka because they're the most mature in each age group." I sent her a questioning look, one eyebrow raised. She giggled a bit. "You look funny like that." I rolled my eyes. Yep, Len's definitely more mature than her.

Len sent her a glance, and answered, "By age groups, she means the two groups: us, the younger than eighteen ones, and the so called 'responsible adults'." He snorted again. "Kaito, responsible? My ass…"

Gumi giggled again. "Okay, we're done here. Let me call Rin…" She took out her green cellphone and walked off a bit, probably to hear better, as the mall was still crowded, even with it being Tuesday, and all. I glanced around, before asking:

"Hey, Len… Is Rin usually so timid?" He glanced at me with both his eyebrows raised. "It's just that… I don't know, she was acting all awkward yesterday when she greeted me, and stuff…"

Len chuckled. "No, she normally is a lot more outgoing. _I _am supposed to be the timid and quiet one. Probably she's just a bit intimidated."

"Yeah, the cocky style doesn't exactly suit you." Then I picked up something that he said and I cocked a bit my head, narrowing my eyes. "Intimidated? By what?"

He returned me the look. "By you. Man, probably you haven't noticed, but you _are_ a bit scary, with your black emo hair, and your eyes, and all."

"I don't have emo hair! And my eyes? What do my eyes have wrong…?"

"Nothing, it's the color. It's weird, though I shouldn't be talking…" He trailed off, gesturing a bit to his own dark blue eyes. "I don't know, but she told me that you still scared her a bit."

I shrugged, "Her loss." Len stared incredulously at me. "What?"

He snorted for the third time this afternoon, "Dude, you really are a bit of a narcissist." I laughed when I got what he meant.

"I didn't refer to that! I meant it in the way of… Uh… I don't know, okay! I meant it like that I did want to talk to her, and…"

Len moved his hand in a 'cut it' gesture. "Okay, okay, I get your idea. Now, why the hell is Gumi taking so much time in the phone…" We turned around, only to find Gumi staring with shining eyes at a skirt in a boutique. Len sighed, and ruffled his hair.  
"Well, you need clothes, anyway…" He trailed off, and looked at my borrowed sweatshirt from Piko and my dull, gray pants. "I know a good brand of jeans. Let's go." He said, took Gumi from the wrist, pulling her away from the showcase, and into a clothes store. I sighed, and followed them.

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

Rin called Gumi while I was trying on clothes. Now, dressed as I was with a pair of black jeans, a black t-shirt with white sleeves and a blue sleeveless hoodie, followed Len and Gumi to an ice-cream shop, where we would meet Rin, Miku, Piko and Iroha.

In the moment we entered, a hyper Iroha waved at us, while Rin and Miku chatted happily, and Piko sulked in the corner, buried in a pile of shopping bags.

"So, what did you buy?" asked Rin to Gumi when she sat next to her. Len sat next to Miku, and I just stood there, until Gumi grabbed my wrist and forced me to sit next to her.

"Let me see… Clothes for emo-boy over there, a PSP, some games, some manga and a Blu-Ray edition of Angel Beats." She said, as she listed the items on her fingers. Rin nodded.

"I bought this skirt that was so cute! And…" I cut the rest of the conversation off, as I am not exactly interested in girl talk, and I paid attention for a while to Len and Miku.

"Len, do you like this skirt?" The tealette asked, as she showed him a black miniskirt that was incredibly short. The said blonde blushed beet red, probably imagining Miku in that skirt. I chuckled, and tuned them off too.

I stared out the window for a bit, until a waiter with light blue hair approached us. Before she could say a word, Iroha jumped:

"Ring! You work here?" I glanced with interest at her. She was wearing a black short dress with a belt on the waist and frills on the neck, with a black bow. She also wore thigh-highs, a pair of detached puffy sleeves, headphones, and short boots with high heels. She had ankle long light blue hair, with teal colored eyes and a big smile. She also had a small notepad and a pen. I cocked my head a bit. Is she allowed to wear headphones on her job? …I want to work here… Um… Scratch that.

Her eyes widened in recognition. "Iroha? How are you, girl?" she cheerily exclaimed, and I winced a bit, being the one that was sitting closest to where she was standing next to our table. Damn, now I have a weird pitch in my right ear.

"So, who are your friends, Iroha?" Ring asked, and beamed at us. Iroha pointed to Piko.

"The sulking one is Piko-" She was interrupted by a squeal of Ring. A good amount of people in the parlor sent her a disturbed glance, but she simply ignored them.

"Oh, so he's the one you told me that-"

"Ring, shut up!" Iroha cut her off, her face as red as a cherry. I chuckled under my breath, hiding my mouth with my hand, and Ring giggled too. What? Those two (Piko and Iroha) are amusing. "Anyway," Iroha continued, "he's Piko. They're Len and Rin," she said pointing to both twins at the same time, who waved, "she's Gumi," said girl nodded, "Miku," the tealette beamed and said hi, "and Aeon." She finalized pointing at me. Ring glanced at me, and winked. I glanced at my hands, steam probably coming from my ears.

"So, what're you gonna take?" she asked, still looking at me.

"Um…" I stuttered, and I was going to ask for something with peanuts, but Rin cut me off.

"I want an orange sherbet, thank you very much," she said, glaring at Ring. Len chuckled, and commented to Miku, whispering:

"Territorial, much?" And Miku giggled too. Then, she raised her gaze, and glanced at Ring.

"Hmm… I want a chocolate-mint swirl, please."

Len followed her hint. "I want a banana split."

"Hm… I will take a vanilla-" Piko started but he was interrupted by Iroha.

"Pistachio, please!" She cheered, while Piko glared at her.

"As I was saying, a vanilla cup, please."

"Um… Do you have something with peanuts?" I asked, by some reason feeling shy. Ring nodded and said:

"A chocolate and peanut swirl, maybe?" I nodded, and she winked at me again. "It will have extra peanuts." Okay, this time I'm _sure_ that steam is coming out of my ears. By some reason, Gumi and Len were holding their laugh, and Rin looked pissed off. Ring nodded, and walked away from our table. I glanced at Rin.

"Are you angry, Rin?" I asked in the most innocent tone I could muster, and she angrily answered:

"Bugger off, emo-boy." I was left speechless, as Piko, Len and Gumi laughed their asses off.

"What did I do?" I asked to Miku, and she shrugged. I buried my face in my arms, waiting for my ice-cream, while Iroha cluelessly asked Piko why they were laughing, and he couldn't even breathe, much less explain it to her.

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

* * *

**I could write more, and make this a long-ass chapter, but… nah.**

**You know, I changed the previous title, 'cuz it was from one of the saddest songs ever... So, I changed it. Anima Ex Machina means 'Heart of the Machine' or something close to it, me thinks.**

**So! The second part of this will come out soon! …Maybe. Probably. Not.**

**Nine pages straight on Word. Not bad for a second chapter. Tell me if you spot any mistakes!**

**I probably need a beta. *shrugs***

**Not the best ending, but I had to cut it somewhere before I made it six-thousand words long. Oh, well.**

**See ya later! And remember, if someone wanna help me with ideas for Aeon's songs, you're welcome!**


	3. Chapter 3: Power Shortage

**Yes, I am alive! Now, go read, and, please, keep the torches down. You'll burn the curtains.**

* * *

**-|-Anima Ex Machina-|-**

**Chapter Three**

**Videogames and Shooting Stars**

"Hey, Aeon, I'm tired. Give me a piggyback ride," whined Gumi, as we got down from Gumiya's car. What? It's still early… It's only half past one.

"Heck no. Go suck a dog, or something." All of my friends stared at me. "What?" Len shook his head, and held the door so we could enter the lobby.

"Forget it. So, who's up for a match of Smash Bros, people?" Gumi and Piko jumped up at the offer. I didn't know what to do, until Len pointed that it is the game that I was looking at in GameStop.

"Count me in." I said, as I nodded.

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

"Man, you're whooping my ass!" complained Piko, as his character, Sonic, for the fifth consecutive time, lost first his three lives.

We were on Len and Rin's room, playing on Len's black Wii. Len and Gumi both had GameCube controllers, while Piko used the Wii Remote and Nunchuck, and I managed with a Classic Controller.

"Even Aeon, a complete newbie, is better than me! How can that be?" My so called 'half-brother' continued to whine. I rolled my eyes, as Gumi dryly answered:

"You know, that should be shameful for you, Snow White." By now, none of Gumi's nicknames for other people surprised me. Piko's face became red.

"Eh… Um… Forget that I said anything." He nervously said, as I laughed in victory. I had managed to throw Gumi's character off of the screen with a powerful swing of Ness' bat.

"Hey! No fair! I wasn't paying attention!" she whined too, as her character, Marth, only had one life left, contrary to Ness and Pikachu, mine and Len's characters, who had two and three lives each.

"Your fault for focusing on Piko," ("I knew it!" jumped Piko,) Len glared at the white-haired boy, and continued, "before than properly playing. Even Aeon is mana-"

"Whoops." I said, as I, used PK Fire next to an explosive crate, and managed to do a self KO. Len sighed as I respawned.

"Forget it." And he shot a Thunder at Marth again, as I failed a PK Thunder, winning again with his three lives.

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

"You know, I'm starting to think that this may be bad for our health." I commented, as we played the twenty… sixth? game of Smash Bros. "How come that the game doesn't bore us?"

Gumi stared at me. "Aeon, it's _Super Smash Bros._ It simply _cannot_ bore you." I shrugged, as I already managed to get a hang of how to use Ness, and I used my down aerial on Len, effectively making him lose a life. Ha! Take that, shota immortality! …Wait, if it existed, shouldn't it be effective on Piko, too? …Damn, I went flying again.

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

"Okay, this is definitely bad." Len admitted as we all stared at a smoking Wii. I chuckled, I couldn't resist saying an 'I told you so'.

Gumi shrugged. "Maybe six full hours of uninterrupted playing is bad, not for our health, but for the game system." We nodded in agreement.

"Anyone else wants ice-cream?" yelled Kaito from the kitchen, and we all raced to the kitchen, desperate to grab a hold of the frozen treat. Childish, I know, but, c'mon, it's _ice cream_.

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

Half past seven in the evening. I don't even know how Miku and Rin managed to do a shopping spree in three hours earlier in the day. …Wait, that's still a lot of time. Anyway, who cares?

Len's head is hanging from the edge of Gumi's bed while he reads _Mockingjay_, while Gumi plays in her laptop and Piko and I stare at the screen of said laptop. She's playing League of Legends, using Rumble, and as I looked at the screen, the words 'QUADRA KILL' appeared in a big white font, along with two small images.

"Eat that, suckers!" Gumi shouted into her headset, and a groan was heard.

"_No fair, Gumi! You stole my kills! …Again..._" Came the answer, though a bit muffled, from the headset. I waved my hand in front of the goggled girl's face to catch her attention and mouthed: 'Who are you playing with?' 'Mikuo, Miku's brother,' she mouthed back. I nodded and continued looking at the screen, just in time to see Gumi's robot-riding champion being killed. The blue yordle went flying and Gumi growled, as she opened the store's window. Just when her champion respawned, a knock was heard, coming from the door.

"Come in!" Gumi loudly shouted, and Mikuo's cry of surprise at the loud sound was heard, coming from the headset.

Rin timidly entered, and glanced around to look at who was in there. She took a deep breath, and said:

"Aeon, your 'profile file' arrived, along with a letter for everyone." We stared at her, and her cheeks had a faint blush when she lowered her gaze to the floor. I glanced at Gumi, who had just ended her game.

"Perfect timing." She commented, and closed her laptop, leaving it on the bed, and walking out of the door. Piko shrugged, and followed her. Len rose from the floor, after finally falling, and we walked out of the door in the living room's direction.

We all reunited in the living room, around the coffee table, staring at a stack of papers on top of it. Luka reached for the letter, delicately opened it, and started to read.

_Dear Vocaloids,_

_ As you probably noticed, a new companion, Aeon Muonssei, has arrived._

"Nah, seriously?" Dryly commented Piko. I rolled my eyes, and motioned Luka to continue. Luka glared at Piko, who shivered, and then she continued reading.

_ We wanted to ask from you to treat him with as much companionship as possible.  
A new composer will be assigned to Aeon, to help him make a song, or more than  
one.  
Any spends that you need to do for him will be later refunded._

"Yes!" cheered Gumi from the sofa's armrest in which she was sitting and pointed at Len. "Told you, cornhead!" Len snorted, and Luka glared at them both.

"Can I continue?" Gumi nodded, Luka cleared her throat, and continued reading.

_ He will need help to learn properly how to sing, and we trust all of you to help him.  
Take care of him._

_ Master._

_ P.S: Miku, Rin, your shopping sprees won't be refunded._

As the two mentioned girls groaned, I snorted. "Master? What are we, servants?" Luka and Meiko gasped.

"Aeon, don't say that! He's our boss and friend!" I glanced at Luka after she finished scorning me.

"Okay, okay. But, seriously, what kind of a signature is 'Master'?"

"One that you have to learn to respect." A voice answered from the door. A boy came into view. He was wearing a pair of discolored gray, almost white jeans, a black short sleeved shirt, a white leather vest and a necktie over the shirt, silver rimmed glasses, a black leather fedora, and Converse. He walked confidently through the front door, stopping next to Luka, nodding at her, then glancing at me. "I'm your assigned composer."

I raised my eyebrows. "Care to give a name?"

He showed us a vampire smirk. "You can call me Rizzo."

I smirked back. "You clothes are weird." He snorted.

"Well, aren't you mature." I rolled my eyes. He cannot be that much older than me. I picked up my 'profile', and started looking through it.

"If I remember properly, your supposed age is fifteen, your item is supposed to be the peanut, you are really sassy, and, basically, you're an idiot." He pointed as I read bits of the folder, confirming most of the things that he said. Except the idiot part.

"Well, aren't you cocky?" Miku commented as she stared up and down my so-called 'composer'.

"Only for you, missy." He bowed a bit, and I rolled my eyes. Leave it to the newcomer to flirt with the Diva.

"Okay, Mr. Fedora. What are we supposed to do with the song? And isn't a composer's job to make the songs?" I asked pointedly, glaring at Rizzo.

"Not necessarily," interjected Luka, "composers are more of partners, who help us making the songs to make them more fitting to us." I sighed, and nodded in defeat. Rizzo glanced at me, and took something from a small backpack that I didn't notice before. He handed the small can to me.

"What is this?" I asked wearily, lifting the can to examine it closely.

"Open it." He simply answered, and I opened it wearily, ready to drop it if necessary. Inside was a good amount of something that looked suspiciously like…

"Peanut butter?" asked Len, surprised, as I stuck a finger on the peanut-y goodness and ate a bit. Gosh, I'm in heaven…

Rizzo simply nodded while I continued eating my treat, and Miku and Rin stared at me with a look that was a mix of awe and repulsion. I noticed them and I shrugged, while Len pointed that both did the same sometimes, only with leeks and oranges, respectively. Both stopped staring after that.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Luka asked, and Rizzo shrugged again.

"Have dinner, go to sleep, watch TV. I don't really care, but I will come back on a week or so to start working on your song, Aeon." I nodded without paying much attention, still in Peanut World. He shook his head in amusement, grabbed his backpack, and walked out the door. Luka glanced around to notice that Kaito had been watching the TV all the time, and that Meiko wasn't even in the house, going out before Rizzo arrived, _and_ leaving the door open. So that is how he entered...

She sighed, walked to the kitchen, and grabbed a pan to start making dinner. I, as kind as I am, left my pot on a counter and went to help her. Rin and Len joined in too.

While I was using a mortar to grind toasted peanuts for the chicken (and eating some), the doorbell rang. Rin was sent to open the door, and a purple haired man with a long ponytail entered.

"Thanks, little one. Where's Luka?" He asked to Rin as he entered. She pointed at the kitchen, and the man finally noticed me.

"Hey, who're you?" He asked in a friendly tone. Luka walked into view, having been hidden from view by the fridge's door.

"He's Aeon, the CV04. Say, hi, Gakupo." She ordered, and the purple haired man, now known as Gakupo, offered me his right hand.

"Nice to meet you," he said as he shook my hand. I nodded, and went back to eati- grinding peanuts, I mean. He glanced back at Luka. "Making dinner, I see." Luka rolled her eyes.

"Are you gonna stand there all day, or are you going to help us?" She asked, glaring at him, and I could see Gakupo sweatdropping.

"Why so mean, Luka, dear? I have just arrived!" He cheerily stated, and I sent him a weary glance, as I walked next to Rin, holding a bowl of mashed peanuts to drop into the wok. She nodded at me, and I dropped them in. Then I left the bowl next to the microwave and continued paying attention to Luka and Gakupo.

"…You exasperate me, Gakupo. By some reason that even I don't understand, I don't like your attitude." Luka was saying, as Len stood next to me, indicating me to help him to make rice balls.

"But, Luka, I haven't done anything!" Gakupo replied, and I noticed that Len almost snorted.

"What happened?" I whispered to him. He glanced at the two adults fighting, and answered, also whispering:

"It's obvious that they like each other, but, for some reason, Luka becomes somewhat of a tsundere when Gakupo is near." I nodded, thinking about the word.

"Tsundere: Term used to define a person, generally a girl, which acts tough and sassy, but actually is very delicate and soft." I muttered to myself, and Len casted me a weary glance.

"Please, don't do that. It's weird." I opened my mouth to retort, but Rin interrupted me.

"Do what?" She asked, having lowered the fire of the pan to let the chicken cook. She glanced too at the still discussing adults. "Are you talking about those two?"

"Somewhat," I conceded, and she nodded, signaling me to pass her the pot of rice that we were working with. I moved it closer to her, and she continued as she started making a ball of rice.

"Those two are weird, though it's obvious that Luka likes him," she pointed and Len nodded.

We continued working in silence until we ran out of rice, and Luka and Gakupo finally ended discussing, Luka suddenly remembering about the wok, and when she hurriedly turned to look at us, we already had finished the dinner. It felt weirdly satisfactory, knowing that I could cook, even if it is only a bit.

|:-:|:-:||:-:|:-:|

After having dinner, we went back to the living room, and Kaito was going to turn on the TV, when the power ran out.

"Hey, what happened?" asked Piko, stumbling, and crashing into me. I fell onto the sofa.

"Hey, Snow White, be careful!" I angrily pushed him off of the couch. He fell to the floor with a low 'Thud!' and Rin complained about someone stepping on her foot, when I felt a heavy weight on top of me. I huffed when that person practically threw all their weight on me.

"Gerroff! You're choking me!" We heard Len's muffled voice, and a yelp of pain was heard.

"Enough! Calm down!" Luka shouted as she lighted a flashlight, and set it on the middle of the table. I finally recognized who fell on top of me.

"Gumi, please, get off…" I choked out, when she awkwardly moved her elbow, accidentally crushing my- OW! She did it again!

"Sorry!" She yelped, and I helped (more like pushed off) her to her feet, to then clutch my crotch in pain. Ow… Hurts so f***ing much…

I am fairly sure Len would've chuckled, if not for the fact that both Rin and Miku are sitting on his back.

"Okay. Now, we need to do a head count," Luka said while moving the torchlight to look at each one of us. "Let me see… There's Len, Miku, Rin… Aeon and Gumi… Piko… Meiko… Gakupo… Where's Kaito?"

"Here!" called Kaito's voice from the kitchen. We saw a small flash of light, and then a candle was lighted. Wow… Kaito had a good idea…

"Nice idea, Kaito," recognized Meiko, surprise evident on her face. He beamed.

"Thank you. Now, I have to save my ice-cream…" And there's the general sweatdrop. Wait…

"The fridge isn't working, which means…" Len voiced my thoughts, and we all stared at Kaito, who was taking the ice-cream out of the freezer.

"What?" He cocked his head, unaware of the danger.

"It's ice cream time!" Everyone dove for the pots. I managed to get a hold on a pistachio carton, and I wriggled my way out of the pile of bodies which were trying to grab a hold of the cold treat.

"Whew!" Rin sighed as she also detached herself from the group, orange ice-cream carton in hand.

"Whew." Echoed Len, as he also rose from the pile. They glanced at each other, and laughed.

"Got a strawberry-banana swirl!" Len cheered, and Rin giggled.

"I have orange ice-cream!" I shook my head in bemusement, and I was going to join the conversation when the door was blasted open.

"Piko! Where are you!" called Iroha as she barraged through the door, followed by two girls and two boys. One of the boys had a striking resemblance to Miku, except for his short hair. The other one was platinum blonde, like one of the girls, the one who had a side ponytail. The other girl had long red hair. Sorry if I'm not descriptive, but c'mon, it's really dark in here.

"…Iroha? Miki? What are you two doing here?" Piko asked, looking surprised.

"I was scared, Piko! Why you don't want me here?" whined Iroha. The other girl, Miki, rolled her eyes.

"Iroha, dear, you need to stop acting like a lovesick puppy." She dryly pointed, and Iroha stuck her tongue out at the redhead. She noticed me. "Oh, the newcomer? Nice to meet you. My name's SF-A2 Miki, but everyone calls me Miki." I nodded in acknowledgement.

"Name's Aeon. Nice ta meet'cha." Wow, I should stop talking with my mouth full. She grimaced, probably thinking that too.

I glance at the two platinum blondes, who were currently talking with Rin and Len. "Care to introduce?" I asked Miki. She nodded and called at them in an authoritative tone.

"Nero! Neru! Introduce yourselves!" The boy winced, but walked to us. He offered me a hand.

"I'm Nero, and moody-gal over there is my sister, Neru." She was standing away from us, trying to ignore me. I rubbed my head.

"Why is she doing that?" I asked, and both Nero and Miki chuckled.

"It's not that she's ignoring you, she's trying to gain Len's attention." I stand corrected. I shook my head in bemusement.

"She isn't doing a very good job, isn't she?" Damn straight. Len was paying more attention to his bowl of ice-cream that to the blonde. Nero emitted an agreement noise, and perked up, just noticing the ice-cream.

"Hey, is that… I want some!" He dashed to the freezer while Len answered him.

"You'll never get!" I almost groaned at the double meaning of that. Nero flipped Len the bird, now with a bowl of… pineapple…? Yep, pineapple ice-cream in hand. He jumped on our sofa, pushing Len off. Len scowled at him. Neru also frowned at her brother.

"Hey Aeon!" called to me Gumi, from where she was talking with the male Miku look-alike. "This is Aeon, Mikuo. Aeon, he's Mikuo, Miku's brother. I was playing League of Legends with him earlier." Gumi introduced us to each other. "He has the blood of a gamer." The goggled girl commented, referring to me. Then she walked in the fridge's direction, probably to get more ice-cream, and Mikuo whistled.

"You must be a natural if Gumi recognized you." He commented, and I shuffled on my feet awkwardly.

"I'm not good… Len's better." I pointed at the blonde, who was still scowling at Nero. He raised his head, hearing his name, and joined our little talk.

"Hey, Mikuo. Didn't see ya earlier. How are you doing?" Len asked, finally noticing the short-haired tealette, whom just made a neutral noise.

"I have somewhat of a bad streak… Can you believe me that Gumi stole me earlier a Penta?" He sighed at the end of the sentence, and Len whistled.

"Another one? Who was she playing with?"

"Rumble… and I cannot believe-" I kind of tuned out the rest of the game-addicted talk. Don't get me wrong, I love games, but I don't exactly know this game. As I glanced around, bored, I noticed a glass door in the left wall, close to the rack, from which came a bit of light. Curious, I passed through it, and arrived in a balcony, in which Rin was leaning on the railing, staring at the street. The lights of all the buildings in a very wide area were also out. I leaned in the railing next to her, with my back to the railing.

"What are you doing?" I softly asked, not wanting to interrupt her thoughts. That much, at least.

She started, and stared with wide eyes at me, her hand shooting to her chest. She then relaxed, and sighed. "Nothing. Just looking at the night." She didn't look at me, choosing to look at the sky instead.

I blew my bangs out of my face. "Hmm… It's is strangely quiet out here… There's a lot of noise inside, even with a blackout." I commented, and Rin nodded absentmindedly.

"That's why I came here… I wanted to think." She trailed off, and I felt that I was just bothering her here.

"Oh, it's okay… Sorry for disturbing you." I said, as I heaved myself to my feet, and started walking in the door's direction. But, before I could walk two steps, Rin grabbed me by my wrist.

"No…" Her eyes were gleaming. "Stay, please… It's kind of relaxing just being here…" She commented, and I slowly nodded, returning to my leaning position on the railing. She raised again her gaze skyward, and gasped, her face illuminating. N-not that I was looking at her or something.

"Aeon, look! It's a shooting star!" She exclaimed, and I also raised my gaze, just in time to catch the rapidly moving spot of light. I turned to Rin, and I saw that she had her eyes closed shut, her lips pressed together, and her hands in front of her collarbone, her fingers interlaced. I fought off the sudden urge to hold her hands in mine.

"Uh… Um…" I babbled out, speechless, and probably open-mouthed, staring at her. As I squeezed and squeezed my brain to try and get some coherent sound out, I was started out of my thoughts by being blinded by the sudden return of the lights. I raised a hand to cover my eyes, while Rin frowned and glanced at the street again. Noticing this, I asked:

"Hey, Rin… Why are you frowning?" She pointed upwards, and I glanced to the sky, to notice that all the stars were obscured by a uniform orange glow, coming from the city lights. I then glanced at Rin, and I put my hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Rin. At least you'll remember the shooting star, and your wish will come true, and-"

"Actually, I have a photo." She commented with gleaming eyes, raising her head. She sent me an amused glance. "So, how do you know that my wish will come true?" Her eyes gleamed mischievously. I shook my head, taking a step back, intimidated by her expression, sweat dribbling down my temple, as she took a step in my direction. But, thankfully, she was interrupted by her name being called from inside. She sighed, and motioned me to come inside, while she hummed a cheery song, as I followed her through the glass door.

* * *

**Lamest chapter ending ever, I know.**

**So. School's a b****, and I uploaded the second chapter on Winter Holidays. Now there is a strike on my school, so... I can write more.**

**I was supposed to have two tests today, and I didn't even go to school. ñ.ñ**

**Watch me do self-inserts like a prah.**

**Thanks to bluefang62 for reviewing!**

**Oh, yes, an important notice. I will update this whenever I can, as the story doesn't have a particular plot. So, expect sporadic updates. Maybe.**

**Now, I have to go work on Chapter Four and the first part of One-Winged Angel...**

**PREGUNTA! Which means question.**

**Who's your favourite Vocaloid?**

**Ciao, bambini!**


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